Apologies for the delay everyone. I knew it was gonna be kinda crazy this week/I got a little overly ambitious for what I could fit in & I should've had this written up in advance. :p Currently my plan is to post on Tuesdays & Fridays. Does anyone want that speed bumped up to three chapters a week? Not this week, obviously xD, but moving into November? *EDIT: unless I get a bunch of you who think it'd be best, we'll stick with the two chapters a week. Also, with tomorrow (Saturday) being what it is, I can't get the next chapter up this week *face palm*, but I'm planning to reply to comments and get #9 up on Monday of this next week. Not planned, but it should actually work out well cause then we can do the two Bree chapters in the same week and end Book 1 on Friday of the next week, all nice and even like. Thanks for bearing with me as we get started (in future I'll try to give you more advance notice of any changes) and have a lovely weekend!* <3
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So, even with everything else that happens later, this has gotta be the creepiest (and possibly unusual, though not entirely unhistorical) chapter of the entire trilogy. It does feel very Old English to me (or rather, ancient Brit) so that's interesting. And I will say after reading the earlier Bombadil poems last week it does seem to fit a bit more with the entire overarching Middle Earth world this time around (before it was always kind of like 'whhaaaat? and..... just whyyyyy exactly?'), but yes, still kinda a weird episode.
It does give Frodo his first major chance to prove his loyalty to his friends and develop his courageous muscle. So there is that.
Oh, one thing I did notice this time was that during prior reads I think I've focused even more on the shreds and tatters and heavy fog/the creepiness vibe, but all of that is sandwiched between Goldberry bidding them farewell in the beginning, with her golden hair about her, and then coming out of the barrow into glittering sunshine and blue sky. I'm not saying it's a deep metaphorical anything. Just an interesting feeling I got reading.
Quotes:
- "...either in his dreams or out of them, he could not tell which, Frodo heard a sweet singing running in his mind: a song that seemed to come like a pale light behind a grey rain-curtain, and growing stronger to turn the veil all to glass and silver, until at last it was rolled back, and a far green country opened before him under a swift sunrise. The vision melted into waking; and there was Tom whistling like a tree-full of birds; and the sun was already slanting down the hill and through the open window. Outside everything was green and pale gold."
- "The night was railing against the morning of which it was bereaved, and the cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered."
- "Few now remember them," Tom murmured, "yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless." (tingles ;))
- "They looked back and saw the top of the old mound on the hill, and from it the sunlight on the gold went up like a yellow flame."
For thought:
- A test of courage or loyalty is hardly a test if the temptation to escape it isn't there too, rearing its ugly head. Do you think Frodo's initial thought of putting on the Ring and escaping the barrow alone was highly reasonable/easy to identify with given the disorienting circumstances?
- If this was your first time reading, was this chapter what you expected?
I haven't read those Bombadil poems but I have never thought that the barrow-wights were out of place. They fit right in with some of the things we will see later.
ReplyDeleteI love your quotes! Here is another one I liked:
"There is a seed of courage hidden in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some desperate danger to make it grow."
There are some chapters in book II that I would like to spend more time on (book I is probably my least favorite) but I *think* I can still fit in three chapters a week if you decide to do that.
Beth,
DeleteIt is true, I think this time I noticed how they tie in more + we do have The Paths of the Dead later, which is an interesting connection.
Ooh, yes indeed. I like that one.
And great! Thank you! It'll take a little longer, but that way we can savor it more. We'll stick with two chapters a week. :)
This was definitely an interesting chapter. It's really the first time that Frodo has borne witness to good overcoming the powers of evil. https://revealedintime.blogspot.com/2020/10/lotr-read-along-fellowship-of-ring-fog.html
ReplyDeleteThis is possibly my least-favorite chapter in the whole epic. Blech. I really hate the wights. I did notice that there's a little foreshadowing in it -- when they wake up in the little hollow, the shadow of the standing stone is laid across them, just like the sword will be laid across three of them in the barrow.
ReplyDeleteFrodo's desire for escape was definitely understandable, and the fact that he resisted it gives us a good idea of his strength of will that he'll need later on.